First scene shows U.S. marines descending rope net ladder from side of the USS Pickaway (APA-222) in waters off Da Nang, South Vietnam. Next, marines of 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment are seen hitting the beach at Danang, from her Higgins boats on 7 July,1965. Scene shifts to U.S. Air Force C-130 aircraft carrying U.S. army troops who are photographed as they step from the aircraft. Trucks carrying some of these soldiers drive along a road in South Vietnam. Officer confer over tactical map of an area. Vietnamese civilian refugees are seen struggling to depart. Small Vietnamese children at a school or other institution, are photographed as they line up and wash themselves before eating a meal. Smallest children are seated in high chairs. President Johnson seen saying "I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle." Pictures of young American men and women are shown in various places and circumstances. A young couple. A man in cowboy hat. A factory worker. A young man laughing. a steel worker on an I beam during construction of a high rise building. Young people assembled at some sort of occasion. Images of Chinese Chairman, Mao Zedong, and Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh. Bow of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier cutting the water, and then broad view of entire ship, the USS Randolph (CV-15). (Note: the Randolph played no role in the Vietnam War.) Aircraft being catapulted from a carrier. USAF B-52 bombers dropping bombs in Arc Light missions over Vietnam. Bombs exploding on the ground. U.S. Marines operating a type of landing craft tracked. Troops deploying from a landing craft at a beach. American troops making their way through jungles. Scene reverts back to President Johnson still speaking (July 28, 1965).

United States Army soldiers patrol the streets and supply food to people in Dominican Republic in 1965 crisis. American soldiers seen giving food and aid to civilians and children in the Dominican Republic. The 1st Infantry Division and 1st Cavalry Division soldiers in Vietnam to counter North Vietnamese aggression. 173rd Airborne Brigade deployed from Okinawa lands in Vietnam and seen unloading from aircraft, and in the field. A brigade of the 101st Airborne division seen debarking from ship in a deployment in Vietnam. 1st Infantry Division Big Red One troops emerging from landing ships on a beach in Vietnam. 1st Cavalry Air Mobile helicopter taking off from deck of an Aircraft Carrier. Aerial view of helicopter of same division seen in flight and firing rockets at target in jungle area in Vietnam. Close up view of rockets being fired from helicopter rocket launcher system. View of construction underway by U.S. Army engineers building base facilities in Cam Ranh Bay on South China Sea in Vietnam. Cranes seen at unfinished dock facilities, and engineers position giant pilings. Cargo in nets unloaded by crane from ship to boat. Views of munitions storage areas in Vietnam, along with crated equipment and oil drums. Group of Army helicopters on the ground preparing for takeoff. Helicopters taking off and in flight as seen from ground and also seen in aerial views in flight. U.S. Army soldiers jump out of helicopters at landing zone. Group of U.S. Army soldiers on patrol in Vietnam and crossing a stream. Artillery piece unloaded from a helicopter. American soldier throws a grenade at a structure in the jungle and explosion is seen. U.S. soldiers fire mortar and reload. U.S. artillery fired on battlefield and reloaded. Soldiers emerge from back of Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) and attack Viet Cong enemy positions in battle.

First scene shows a U.S. Army UH-1 helicopter flying over South vietnam. Next, American soldier is seen firing at Viet Cong who are running toward a downed helicopter. U.S. soldiers seen climbing out of the helicopter, which is turned on its side. They rush away under fire from the Viet Cong. A ward in a U.S. military hospital in vietnam, where wounded soldiers being treated. Closeups of some of the patients. A flat bed truck carrying American flag-draped coffins of fallen American soldiers drives past a U.S. C-130 aircraft with number 54375 on its tail. A contingent of U.S. servicemen, including sailors in whites and others in Khakis, at parade rest, near a C-130 aircraft. They begin to carry the coffins to the rear loading door of the aircraft. Closeups of Vietnamese people. U.S. soldiers jamming the side railings of
a troop ship arriving in Vietnam. One soldier hurries down the gangplank. Then a soldier carrying a unit flag, with numeral one on it, descends the gangplank, followed by two officers. Next, troops are seen assembled with American flag and another one carried by soldiers.

Opening scenes show destroyed and damaged American UH-1 helicopters. A flying buzzard depicted on remains of one. Damage to buildings at American airbases and other installations, including barracks of U.S. servicemen, where a photograph of a girl and other personal items are seen on the ground. Smoke rising and ambulance responding at site of a bombing in Saigon. Injured personnel bleeding, after the Viet Cong detonate a car bomb outside the American Embassy in Saigon, on March 30, 1965. A victim being carried on a stretcher.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini standing together in an open car during a motorcade in Munich, in 1938. Civilian spectators render Nazi salutes as they pass. Next, British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, arriving for the Munich treaty conference, steps from a British Airways Lockheed Model 14 passenger plane. An honor guard of helmeted and white-gloved German soldiers stands at attention during his welcome. Adolf Hitler climbs stairs of Berghof together with Chamberlain and Hitler's interpretor, Paul Otto Schmidt, on September 15, 1938 for their conference. Crowds of Germans give Nazi salute and cheer as Hitler and Mussolini appear on a balcony. Prime Minister Chamberlain back from the conference, speaks to the crowd at Heston Aerodrome on 30 September 1938, saying, among other thing, "We regard the agreement signed last night, and the Anglo-German naval agreement as symbolic of the desires of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again." Damaged buildings and ruins of city. Mussolini giving an impassioned speech. Italian cavalry carrying out a charge in Ethiopia. Italian troops employing machine guns in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War circa 1936. Italian infantry charging across sand dunes. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie at the League of Nations podium. Nazi Swastika eagle statue. A formation of German troops, during the Anschluss (German annexation of Austria,in 1938). Hitler at a podium. People rendering Nazi salute in annexed city.
At this point, the film transitions to 1950 as North Korean troops cross the 39th parallel and start the Korean War. A nighttime artillery barrage. North Korean troops firing a Browning M1917 machine gun and rifles. The feet of American soldiers are jumping out of foxholes as U.S.M26 Pershing tanks fire their guns from tilted positions below hills. A Pershing tank crosses a bridge back into South Korea, where a sign reads:"You are now crossing the 38th parallel, Co.B 728 MP."
Scene shifts again, to President Lyndon B. Johnson delivers speech about Vietnam at a news conference on July 28, 1965, in which he states,among other things, "Three times in my lifetime...Americans have gone to far lands to fight for freedom..." as he explains U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the Vietnam War.

Segment of movie showing activities of Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. It was captured by U.S. and South Vietnam forces during Operation Junction City, in 1967. It shows Viet Cong digging deep trench in the jungle, circa 1965.